(photo by moises sandoval,1976)from right to left
max martinez,cecilio garcia camarillo and me
this is the back cover of my chapbook Anti-Bicicleta Haiku
click to enlarge

Remembering Max Martinez, the Chicano Kid,
In This Time Of War

Hey, Max, wake up, we’re sending you
a young man, Cpl. John Longoria,21,
just killed this November 14 in New Ubaydi,

we’re sending him back
to your beloved Nixon, Texas,
the rolling hills, the mesquite trees,

the flowing Guadalupe River
rhyming everything with reason
all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

John was a good soldier,
he believed in freedom like all of us
and he put his life on the line.

We’re told by the government
that he was killed by small arms fire.
But, there’s nothing small

about the way death has taken him from us.
He’s driving through the sand hills now, Max,
welcome him home as we say good-bye.